The virtues of embibing in Guinness
By Angela Brown, Crawford, TexasFunny thing about this, I have read this only in local MSM newspaper websites (and of course, the stalwarts like this one). Nothing that I could find on AP. Nothing on Reuters. After listening to the radio all day, I've yet to hear one report at the top of the hour news. Granted this story was big news, but even so, on the way home, the top of the hour news still featured another lame quote from Ms. Moonbat. Curiously missing, however, was a mere mention of a nearby counter protest with a turnout larger than the attendance at Camp Casey.
SEVERAL thousand people descended on US President George Bush’s adopted hometown over the weekend to attend a rally supporting him, or for the last leg of an anti-war demonstration near his ranch.
The pro-Bush rally by the school football stadium was the culmination of the ‘You don’t speak for me, Cindy!’ tour that started last week in California - referring to the protest that peace activist Cindy Sheehan started on August 6 near the US president’s ranch.
Several times, the crowd of about 1,500 chanted: “Cindy, go home!”
Former California Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian, a Republican who co-founded Move America Forward, the group that co-ordinated the rally, said: “You are giving hope and encouragement to the enemies of America.”
Meanwhile, busloads of anti-war protesters gathered several miles away at ‘Camp Casey’, named for Ms Sheehan’s 24-year-old son who died in Iraq last year. A Saturday bell-ringing ceremony was held to honour soldiers serving in Iraq. Organisers estimated the crowd at more than 2,000, but it appeared smaller.
“I know that the Camp Casey movement is going to end the war in Iraq,” Ms Sheehan said, adding that no other families should have to suffer the loss of a relative.
She led the crowd in chanting: “Not one more!”
Traffic was at a crawl for hours in the one-stoplight town of 700 people, and law enforcement agencies from nearby cities were called in to help.
At the pro-Bush rally, there were some heated moments when two members of Protest Warrior, a group that frequently holds counter protests to anti-war rallies, walked in with a sign that read “Say No to War - Unless a Democrat is President.”
Many Bush supporters only saw the top of the sign and believed the men were anti-war protesters, so they began shouting and chasing the pair out. One man tore up their signs.
Later Saturday, a few Bush supporters went to the edge of the anti-war camp trying to remove some of the hundreds of white crosses bearing fallen soldiers’ names.
They had a list of families who didn’t want their sons’ or daughters’ names associated with Ms Sheehan’s group. Sheriff’s deputies said they could remove the name tags but not the crosses, so the group removed a few tags and left.
Several families of fallen US soldiers attended the rally, including John Wroblewski and his wife from Jefferson Township, New Jersey.
The couple, whose oldest son, Marine 2nd Lt John Thomas Wroblewski, died in Iraq last year, said they disagreed with Ms Sheehan’s beliefs that Bush misled Americans about the reasons for the war.
“We’re not for war. I don’t think anybody is ... but we’ve got to complete the mission,” said Mr Wroblewski.
At any rate, I guess we need to go to Ireland to get any decent U.S. news. No doubt supporting a Dublin industry has its perks. Keep up the good work, Fraters!
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